As an athlete at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs from 1982-84, I vividly remember President Ronald Reagan speaking to us athletes in the gymnasium. The security was very tight, not just with men on the ground but also perched on the roof. Debriefed by a member of the President’s security team, we athletes were warned to remain seated on the gym floor and not to get up on our feet and, by no means, cross the line marked on the floor in front of us.

President Reagan spoke. When finished, a member of the women’s basketball team gave him a gift and said that there were other athletes as well who had gifts to give him. No one had anything to give him, leaving the president just standing there. It was an awkward moment.

That’s when I sprung to my feet, walked toward the president saying. “President Reagan, my name is Mel McGinnis. I know you don’t know much about my sport (racewalking), but I’m glad you came and I’ll probably vote for you.” It brought the house down. Himself laughing, the president gladly shook my hand as the press afterwards couldn’t get over how I was swarmed by the media rather than smothered by the Secret Service.

As it all unfolded, a fellow athlete up in the press box overheard an ominous comment from an agent of the president’s team: “Someone will not be with us tomorrow.” Failing to stop me when I rose to my feet and crossed the line likely cost somebody’s job.

Who is going to pay this time after the egregious breach of security breakdown in Butler?

Granted, Donald Trump isn’t the president, but after the media hate-merchants and progressive political pundits pound away with repeated Trump-Hitler comparisons and perpetually parrot the “threat to democracy” narrative, it raises the stakes for an assassin’s bullet. If he’s Hitler or a diabolical threat, could someone “justify” taking him out? Doesn’t that heighten security concerns?

Speaking of concerns, snipers on a sloped roof eliminated the would-be assassin, but weren’t where he was because the roof was sloped. That doesn’t add up.

During my Secret Service incident at the Olympic Training Center, I remember men being around the president. When I saw what was going on in Butler, I noticed both women and men on stage surrounding the president with a female, in particular, a half-foot shorter than the president, leaving him exposed from the neck up. She may be an outstanding agent, but doesn’t that leave an open target?

Going to the website of the Secret Service, Director Kimberly Cheatle is described as “responsible for… leading a diverse workforce…” Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute raises a fair question: “Why so many female agents? The answer, unfortunately, is the same as in many other institutions: DEI. The Secret Service has highlighted ‘diversity’ as a key priority…” Like someone else remarked, “Cheatle…committed [herself] to the social ideology as a priority over safety.” Those with law enforcement experience noticed other disconcerting blunders in Butler, like the mishandling of a gun by an agent with “DEI” gender credentials. When ideology takes over safety, DEI becomes Degrade Excellence Incrementally.

If diversity is the standard, excellence declines. If excellence is the standard, qualification trumps diversification. The Bible affirms the standard of excellence: “[W]hatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right… if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” It’s time to take the DEI garbage out of the Secret Service and trash it or exchange it for a new DEI of Discipline Excellence Integrity.

The Rev. Mel McGinnis is a Frewsburg resident.